South Eastern Trains
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| Franchise: | South Eastern Trains 9 November 2003 - present |
| Main Region(s): | Greater London |
| Other Region(s): | Kent, East Sussex |
| Fleet size: | approx. 400 |
| Stations: | 178 |
| Parent company: | Strategic Rail Authority (publicly-owned) |
| Website: | www.setrains.co.uk |
South Eastern Trains (SET) is a British train operating company set up to provide train services in the south-east of England including Kent, parts of East Sussex, and the South-East London commuter routes. The London termini of the services are Charing Cross, Blackfriars, Cannon Street, and Victoria. SET operate on 773 miles (1237 km) of tracks, with 178 stations. 82% of their train services go into London.
Contents |
History
SET is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA). It assumed the services following the withdrawal of Connex South Eastern's franchise on 9 November 2003. Part of the company's public information leaflet at the time stated that SET 'will operate the franchise until a private company is appointed to manage the new Integrated Kent Franchise (IKF)'. Some trade unions, such as the RMT, opposed the plans to re-privatise (April 2004), and campaigned for SET to continue under public ownership.
Train fares, staff and schedules remained the same. In the ensuing 18 months the company has announced staffing changes involving station staffs, but point out that 400 more staff are now employed: 90 new jobs are involved in station security and 'revenue protection'. Press articles claimed that large-scale cuts in services would be undertaken; in response to strenuous opposition by local councils these have to some extent been modified, although there are some fears about the services in the Thames Gateway area. Two stations are to close, although services on the branch line from the Isle of Sheppey, which currently terminate at Sittingbourne, are to be extended to Dover.
Train routes
Main lines
South Eastern Trains run four main lines, two to the Kent coast:
- through Ashford - the London - Ashford- Dover Line
- through Chatham and the north Kent coast
- through Maidstone to Ashford and Canterbury
- the Hastings Line (London to Hastings via Tunbridge Wells)
There is also the Medway Valley Line, linking with the North Downs Line to Reading.
Suburban services
The suburban services (called 'Metro’ in the SET timetables) run to:
- Sevenoaks: two services - one via Grove Park, and one via Bromley South
- Hayes line
- Orpington via Lewisham
- Swanley
- Dartford via: North Kent Line (from which certain trains run to Gillingham); the Bexleyheath Line and the Dartford Loop Line.
Rolling stock
SET uses a fleet composed exclusively of electrical multiple units.
- Class 365 Networker Express - transferred to WAGN in 2004
- Class 375 Electrostar
- Class 376 Suburban Electrostar
- Class 411 4Cep - withdrawn by mid-2005
- Class 421 4Cig - withdrawn by late-2004
- Class 423 4Vep - withdrawn by late-2005
- Class 465 Networker
- Class 466 Networker
- Class 508
Integrated Kent Franchise
The intention is that the Integrated Kent Franchise will encompass the current region of SET and add domestic high-speed trains running between Kent and London on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. The franchise was put out to tender to four pre-qualified candidates on 18 January 2005. The invited parties were:
- South Eastern Railways Ltd (a consortium of DSB and Stagecoach Group);
- Great South Eastern Railway Limited (Sea Containers, the owners of GNER, and MTR Corporation);
- London & South Eastern Railway Ltd (Go-Ahead Group and Keolis);
- First Group's First Kent Integrated Railways Ltd.
Bids were submitted by April 2005, and evaluated by the SRA, which intends to announce the winner on 21 December 2005. The winner will not start operating the franchise until 1 April 2006. The franchise will be for six years, and includes an automatic extension of another two years if the operators meet their performance commitments. This means that the franchise is likely to run until 31 March 2014.
It is expected that the operator of the Integrated Kent Franchise will also operate the Olympic Javelin, a high-speed link between St Pancras station and Ebbsfleet International station, via Stratford International station, which will be situated close to the main venues of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
See also
External links
- Official South Eastern Trains site
- Station information from South East trains
- Kent County Council summary of IKF proposals March 2005
- Kent County Council IKF update July 2005
| British train operating companies | |
|---|---|
| InterCity: | Eurostar - First Great Western - First TransPennine Express - GNER - Hull Trains - Midland Mainline - one - Virgin Trains |
| London & South East: | c2c - Chiltern Railways - First Great Western Link - Gatwick Express - Heathrow Express - Island Line one - Silverlink - South Eastern Trains - South West Trains - Southern - Thameslink - WAGN |
| Regional: | Arriva Trains Wales - Central Trains - First ScotRail - Merseyrail - Northern Rail - Wessex Trains |
